Shipping a guitar from Canada

bill_yantz · Post by **bill_yantz** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:11 am

Does someone have any knowledge as to the taxes, etc., to ship a guitar from Canada to the US?

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:32 am

Bill, good news on the taxes, they are zero! Are you going to us FedEx or UPS?

bill_yantz · Post by **bill_yantz** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:56 am

Thank you peter for the quick reply. It would be UPS, but what do you recommend?

If it is shipped by either UPS or FedEx, are there any unusual delays?

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:00 am

If it goes UPS there may be a brokerage charge for getting it through customs. When bringing guitars from the US to Canada via UPS, the charge is usually $50-75 (depending on the declared value of the instrument). Delivery via UPS Standard from one country usually takes about 4 business days. In fact I've got something coming right now via UPS....

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:52 am

I prefer UPS. FedEx have been knuckleheads lately.

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:35 am

I paid a $70 or $75 brokerage fee for my 4080, but that was coming into Canada. And there WERE taxes when it got here! Rotten buggers!
Expect delays at the border. Mine sat for 2 days due to a log error when it arrived in Quebec. All told it took 7 days from Lincoln, Nebraska to Nova Scotia via UPS Standard ground at around $200 US for shipping & insurance (get the insurance!!!!!).

bitzerguy · Post by **bitzerguy** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:22 am

Just looking at my invoices for 2005 and my brokerage fees through UPS were $75 each guitar. Only GST was charged. Transit time from Harrisburg PA to Montreal was 2 days via standard UPS ground in January (left on a Wednesday and I got it Friday AM). The second one was 3 days from Grand Rapids, MI to me. No damages and do delays. But the fees were COD. No package until they were paid.

I don't know about going the other way yet.

...Dean

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 12:51 pm

I have had issues with both UPS and FedEx. To me it is a toss up, but I am going to recommend FedEx even though they can be knuckle-heads.

Expect an extra charge to your US party no matter what arrangements you make at your end in Canada. This is not always the case, but has happened to me on more than one occasion. Beware that some companies will not receive from some shippers, because of the knuckle-head factor. In my case the added courier cost turned out to be approximately $30 US.

But here is the reason I won't use UPS again. The last time I shipped to the US, a UPS driver decided on his own that the receiving company would not receive UPS and made arrangements to send the package back to Canada. Had I not been tracking it online, I would have had the parcel back.

If you are shipping from Canada this time of year BEWARE as your guitar can easily find its way into a warehouse that is unheated for a long weekend.